Cone-shaped jet filling tube and filling machine equipped therewith

ABSTRACT

A filling tube for dispensing a liquid into a container, wherein the tube ( 10 ) includes an orifice ( 36, 40 ) for dispensing the liquid which conditions a cone-shaped jet, and wherein the tube includes an axial cannula provided with a gas discharge conduit ( 24 ) emerging inside the space defined by the cone-shaped jet. The cannula includes a gas intake pipe ( 28 ) which emerges inside the space defined by the cone-shaped jet and which sprays a gas stream which flows substantially parallel to the liquid cone-shaped jet, on the inner side thereof.

The invention relates to the area of filling spouts, in particular thoseintended for machines for filling bottles.

Making filling spouts that package a conical or “umbrella-shaped” jet ofa product is already known. Used for filling bottles, they especiallymake it possible to do so such that the product will be projected veryrapidly from the spout output against the internal side wall of thebottle. Thus, the product is introduced into the bottle by running alongthe internal wall and not by being projected directly to the bottom ofthe bottle. In this way, the bottle filling is carried out with aslittle foam formation as possible, which makes it possible to increasethe filling rate and thus to decrease the time necessary for filling abottle.

Arranging an axial hollow needle in such a spout type is also known,which makes it possible to evacuate the air initially contained in thebottle without disturbing the conical jet in any way.

Two examples of spouts designed in this way are found in the documentsU.S. Pat. No. 4,156,444 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,441. These spouts makeit possible to decrease, in a significant way, the filling times for abottle even if the product being bottled is a carbonated liquid, such assodas or beer or a liquid having a tendency to foam such as milk orfruit juice.

Another problem that can be encountered in the course of filling abottle is that of contact of the product with ambient air. In factnumerous products, in particular beer and fruit juices, can bedeteriorated by oxygen. Still in the course of filling with a spout ofclassic design, the product is greatly exposed to air. Thus the oxygentends to incorporate into the product, which limits its storage time.

Thus the goal of the invention is to propose a new design for a fillingspout which, while maintaining the qualities of the spouts describedabove, also makes it possible to greatly limit, or eliminate, contact ofthe bottled product with air.

In accordance with this goal, the invention proposes a filling spout fordelivering a liquid into a container, of the type in which the spoutcomprises an orifice for delivery of the liquid which forms an umbrellajet and of the type in which the spout comprises an axial hollow needleequipped with an evacuation duct for gas which opens into the interiorof the space surrounded by the umbrella jet, and which projects a flowof gas that flows essentially in parallel to the umbrella jet of theliquid, from the inside of same.

According to other characteristics of the invention:

the gas supply duct opens into the interior of the space delimited bythe umbrella jet in the form of an annular opening;

at the level of its opening end, the gas supply duct comprises adeflecting surface that is essentially conical;

the evacuation duct opens axially at the center of the annular openingof the gas supply duct, which opens axially at the center of the orificefor delivery of the product, which is essentially annular;

the duct supply gas is supplied with a gas that is neutral with respectto the product to be delivered;

the jet of product presents an axial rotation component;

the spout comprises an annular chamber for causing rotation, in whichthe project is injected with a tangential speed component, the chamberfor causing rotation being extended axially by an annular duct, of whichthe opening end forms the orifice for delivery of the product;

the chamber for causing rotation is connected to the annular duct by afunnel-shaped surface;

the axial hollow needle passes through the chamber for causing rotationaxially;

The invention also relates to a machine for filling containers,characterized in that it comprises at least one filling station equippedwith a filling spout that incorporates any one of the precedingcharacteristics.

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will be seen fromreading the detailed description that follows, as well as from viewingthe attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic axial cross section view of a filling spoutaccording to the instructions in the invention, the spout beingillustrated in operation in the course of filling a bottle;

FIG. 2 is a reduced scale view in transverse cross section according toline 2-2 of FIG. 1.

The filling spout 10 illustrated in the figures is most particularlyintended for filling bottles 12 with narrow necks. For example, it couldbe used equally well for glass bottles or bottles of plastic materialsuch as terephthalic polyethylene (PET). Naturally such a spout willpreferably be used for manufacturing filling machines with multiplespouts, for example of the rotating carousel type.

The terms for orientation such as “high,” “low,” “upper,” “lower,” etc.that are used for the description of the figures correspond to theexample illustrated and must not be interpreted as being limitations tothe scope of the invention.

Spout 10 illustrated on the figures essentially contains a main hollowbody 14, essentially with revolution around axis A1, which has twocoaxial tubes, an internal tube 16 and an external tube 18, passingthrough all of it axially.

The main body 14 thus delimits an internal volume with tubes 16, 18passing through it axially. The main body 14, which is represented as asingle piece, may also be made up of several pieces to facilitatemanufacturing. An upper cover 20 which closes the internal volume in asealed manner toward the top and which supports the tubes 16, 18, topsit.

The cover 20 has an internal borehole that passes through all of it,axially. The upper step 22 of the borehole, which opens toward the toptoward the exterior of the main body, is cylindrical along axis A1 withessentially the same diameter as the external diameter of the internaltube 16.

The interior step 24, which opens out toward the top in the internalvolume is cylindrical with axis A1, with essentially the same diameteras the external diameter of external tube 18.

The intermediate step 26, which extends axially between upper step 22and lower step 24, is cylindrical with axis A1 and has essentially thesame internal diameter as the external tube 18.

The upper end of the external tube 18 is engaged axially from the bottomto the top in the interior step 26 of the borehole in the cover, untilit comes in contact with an annular abutment surface that delimits thelower step 24 of the intermediate step 26. The tube 18 is shown withlocking and with the presence of a sealing ring in such a way as toinsure, on one hand, the fastening of external tube 18 on cover 20, andon the other hand the sealing of this assembly.

Internal tube 16 is engaged, axially in the center of the external tube18 in such a way as to completely cross the cover 20. The internal tube20 is held with teeth across the upper step 22 of the borehole in thecover, which also insures the fastening of the internal tube 16.

As can be seen in the figures, the internal diameter of the externaltube 18 is greater than the external diameter of the internal tube 16 insuch a way that when they are mounted coaxially on cover 20, an annularspace exists between the two tubes 16, 18 that forms a channel 28. Ascan be seen in FIG. 1, the upper end of this channel 28, which is formedby the intermediate step 26 of the bore hole in cover 20 is closed dueto the fact of the sealed installation of the internal tube 16 in theupper step 22 of the bore hole.

However, an intake port 30 crosses the cover radially to open into theintermediate step 24 of the borehole and thus make it possible to bringthe channel 28 into communication with a source of liquid.

The internal volume delimited by the main body 14 essentially has threeparts: an upper chamber for causing rotation 32, an acceleration cone 34and an annular delivery duct 36. The chamber for causing rotation 32 hasthe simple shape of a ring arranged around the external tube 18. A feedintake 38 makes it possible to introduce the product to be bottled intothe chamber 32 according to an orientation that is not purely radial butwhich, on the contrary, exhibits a tangential component. Since theproduct is introduced into the chamber at a certain pressure, theproduct is pulled into a spiral circulation in the chamber, the same asthe case where this pressure comes only from the flowing of the productdue to gravity. If necessary, it is possible to also give the feed input38 a slight inclination in the vertical direction.

The annular delivery duct 36, by which the product to be bottled runstoward the container 12, is formed around the lower part of the externaltube 18. In the example of the embodiment illustrated, it is providedthat this part of the spout 10 penetrates into the interior of the neckof the container to be filled, in such a way that the duct 36 has adiameter that is less than that of the rest of the main body 14. Theduct 36 is delimited by a tubular cylindrical wall. To connect thechamber 32 to the duct 36, a connecting surface 34 is provided which,for purposes of simplicity, has been chosen as a tapered surface.

Naturally, the internal shapes of the main body 14 of spout 10 may beoptimized, e.g. as illustrated in document U.S. Pat. No. 5,125,441,without going beyond the instructions in the invention by doing so.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the lower end of the external tube 18 dropsbelow the level of the lower end of the duct 36, thus delimiting anorifice 40 for output of the product, which is annular. In addition, thelower end of the external tube 18 flares radially toward the exterior insuch a way that the external surface of the outside tube thus forms adeflector 44 which tends to project the product radially toward theexternal so that it comes in contact with the internal wall of thecontainer, forming an umbrella jet.

The dimensions and the respective positions of the end of the externaltube 18 and the end of the duct 36 are chosen such that the passagesection of the output orifice 40 is relatively reduced, this being inorder to allow retention of the liquid contained in the spout when theproduct supply is cut off. The maximum acceptable passage cross sectionnecessary to avoid product leaking is determined, in particular, as afunction of the intrinsic surface tension of the product.

In a comparable way, the lower end to the internal tube 16 extendsaxially below that of the external tube 18 and the external surface ofthe end of internal tube 16 flares radially toward the outside to form adeflection surface 46. The lower end of channel 28 is thus annular andflares radially toward the outside.

In function, the feed intake 38 of chamber 32 is connected to a storagetank of the product to be bottled, with a controlled valve mountedbetween. The opening and the closing of the valve can be controlled as afunction of different parameters. It may be a time control thatdetermines a fixed time period for filling which will be used for allcontainers. The control may be of the weight type, the delivery of theproduct being interrupted when the container has reached a predeterminedweight. It may also be a matter of a feed control in which the rate offeed delivered by the spout is integrated in order to have an estimateof the volume of product poured into the container. In the case of avolumetric machine, the product quantity to be delivered will bemeasured into an intermediate volume placed between the storage tank andthe filling spout.

The intake port 30 of channel 28 supplied with gas will preferably beconnected to a source of gas that is neutral for the product underconsideration. This neutral gas could be e.g. carbon dioxide (CO2) ornitrogen (N2).

Finally, the central duct 42 delimited by the inside of the central tube16 will be connected to a gas evacuation device or very simply to theopen air.

In operation, the flow of product that is injected into the body of thespout is thus put in rotation in chamber 32 which, in combination withthe annular form of the output orifice 40 and with the form of thedeflection surface 44, insures that the product is delivered by thespout in the form of an umbrella jet. Since the lower part of the spoutis connected in the container or is in the immediate proximity of it,the product then comes in contact with the internal wall of thecontainer and runs along it to fill the container. A flow is obtainedthat creates very little foam, even for high feed rates.

According to the invention, the channel 28 is supplied with a neutralgas in such a way that the flow of gas flowing through the lower end ofthe channel 28 opens out “below” the umbrella flow of the product.Because of the flared shape of the deflection surface 46, the gas flowruns essentially parallel to the flow of product into the bottle.

Thus, due to the invention, the flow of product is trapped, as it were,between the wall of the container on the outside and the flow of neutralgas on the inside. In this way, contact of the product with the ambientarea is very limited, or even completely eliminated.

Naturally the evacuation duct 42 makes possible for the gas to escapefrom the container gradually as the product level increases in thecontainer. This escape occurs preferably by way of the center of thecontainer, toward the top of the long axis A1. The evaluated gases maybe either a part of the gas initially contained in the container beforefilling, or a part of the neutral gas supplied by the duct 36.

To further limit the possibility of contact of the product with ambientair, it is possible to provide the beginning of the filling operationwith a preliminary step of flushing the container with a neutral gas.The effectiveness of such a flushing with the spout according to theinvention will be particularly improved by the specific outflow due tothe spout. In fact, the flow injected by the duct supplied with gas 28runs toward the bottom along the wall of the container and it goes backup along axis A1 in the direction of the evacuation duct 42. Thisoutflow makes it possible to remove the air previously contained in thecontainer in a very small amount of time and in a very efficient manner.Thus, without much increasing the total time necessary for filling acontainer, the contact of the product with air is diminished in a verysignificant way.

Due to the spout according to the invention, it is also possible toextend the injection of the neutral gas beyond the time necessary forfilling the product, in order to complete the flushing of the space atthe head of the container with a neutral gas to prevent capturing air inthe bottle, thus in contact with the product, at the moment of sealingthe bottle.

What is claimed is:
 1. Filling spout for delivering a liquid into acontainer, of the type in which the spout (10) comprises a deliveryorifice (36, 40) of the liquid which forms an umbrella jet, and of atype in which the spout has an axial hollow needle equipped with a gasduct (4) of which opens into the inside of the space delimited by theumbrella jet, characterized in that the hollow needle comprises achannel (28) supplied with gas that opens into the inside of the spacedelimited by the umbrella jet and which projects a flow of gas that runsessentially in parallel to the umbrella jet of the liquid, on theinterior of same.
 2. Filling spout according to claim 1, characterizedin that the gas supply channel (28) opens out into the inside of thespace delimited by an umbrella jet in the form of an annular opening. 3.Filling spout according to claim 2, characterized in that, at the levelof its opening end, the gas supply channel (28) has a deflecting surface(46) that is essentially conical.
 4. Filling spout according to claim 2,characterized in that the evacuation duct (42) opens out axially at thecenter of the annular opening of the gas supply channel (28), whichopens out axially at the center of the product delivery orifice (36,40), which is essentially annular.
 5. Filling spout according to claim1, characterized in that the gas supply channel is supplied with a gasthat is neutral with respect to the product to be delivered.
 6. Fillingspout according to claim 1, characterized in that the product jetexhibits an axial rotation component.
 7. Filling spout according toclaim 6, characterized in that it comprises an annular chamber (32) forcausing rotation in which the project is injected (38) with a tangentialspeed component, the chamber for causing rotation (32) being extendedaxially by an annular duct (36) of which the opening end forms theorifice (4) for delivery of the product.
 8. Filling spout according toclaim 7, characterized in that the chamber for causing rotation (32) isconnected to the annular duct (36) by a funnel-shaped surface (34). 9.Filling spout according to claim 7, characterized in that the axialhollow needle (16, 18) passes through the chamber for causing rotation(32) axially.
 10. Machine for filling containers, characterized in thatit comprises at least one filling station equipped with a filling spoutconforming to claim 1.